Most of us are waiting to be picked.
We are waiting for an agent or publisher to call, or we are waiting to be picked to take the next step up the ladder, or we are just waiting for someone to give us that pat on the back and let us know what we are doing is worthwhile and, well, you know, to “keep-at-it.”
Why?
There’s nothing inherently wrong with waiting to be picked, it’s just that it’s unpredictable and you might end up spinning your wheels and waiting a long time for… nothing.
In today’s world where the economy is changing so fast and self-publishing is becoming the norm and not the exception, you might genuinely be waiting for something that is near extinction.
Maybe there wasn’t anything wrong with waiting to be picked ten or twenty years ago, but today if you’re still waiting it’s time to take matters into your own hands.
This doesn’t mean you can’t still be picked, but if you are picked it might mean your chances for making an impact and reaching as many readers as possible will be more limited than going it on your own.
The world is changing and waiting for someone else to tag you, to give you the old “atta boy”, “keep-at-it” is becoming an absurd strategy.
The problem is that we’ve been taught from birth that someone else grades us, someone else chooses us, and those who choose themselves take on incredible risk.
If you choose yourself you have no one to measure you’re progress, no security in case you fail, and, if you do fail, people will tell you “I told you so.”
Scary, isn’t it? It’s meant to be.
We have been trained to get in line and work, wait, work, wait, work, wait and work some more.
You do this until you’re either so frustrated waiting to be picked that you take it upon yourself to do something about it, or you give up entirely.
Or, worst of all, you decide, perhaps not consciously, to just go through the motions day after day with no aspirations and no expectations.
Then again, maybe you’ll be one of the few, one of the chosen ones. (Can you hear the crowd roaring applause?)
Woo Hoo!
But even if you are one of the chosen you probably won’t be creating the art you always wanted to create and you’ll still be tied to someone else’s plan, and as Jim Rohn points out in one of his most famous quotes:
If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you?
Not much.
―Jim Rohn
Unfortunately, too many of us wait for frustration to build and build before we do something about it and by the time it gets to that point years will have passed, but even then all is not lost and you can still tag yourself.
I waited a long time to be picked.
I created work that got noticed and I was certain it mattered. I returned day after day creating even more and all of it got noticed and all of it was praised.
It was wonderful and I loved doing it, but there was a problem that persisted.
Each time I created something there was the insinuation of what was to come for me and then finally the opportunity I was working for and waiting for, came.
But I wasn’t picked.
And you know what? That’s just the way it is.
No harm and no foul, it’s the way the game is, and either you’re picked or someone else is, you just have to get back up, brush yourself off, and return to the drawing board… right?
Yes, that’s right. Until it’s not.
It’s time to pick yourself because you can. (Tweet This)
Here’s the thing, if I had been picked you would not be reading this post.
I would never have written any of my books and would never have started any of my websites and blogs.
When I picked myself the waiting stopped and I started creating what matters to me, and apparently to a lot of other people, too.
Today my books earn far more than any added bonus being picked could have ever brought in.
Now I choose to create what I want on my own time, on my own terms, my way, and no one has any say about it, unless I allow them to.
It’s quite liberating. Don’t you think?
But this didn’t happen because someone tagged me and said I was finally, finally, oh thank goodness, it.
No, it was because someone didn’t pick me and I became so frustrated that I did something positive about it.
So. Can. You.
It wasn’t easy and several things I tried didn’t work.
Some things failed so badly they left a mark, but I learned as I went by seeking out lessons and advice when I needed them (usually after crashing and burning).
Don’t fear the mistakes and failures you will make, because you need them and you’ll be better because of them.
Here’s the reality check for today’s times:
You don’t have to wait for anyone to pick you. Pick yourself! (Tweet This)
Take that old manuscript in your drawer, dust it off, and publish it yourself on Amazon or your own site.
If you’ve been waiting to write it, well, now’s the time to stop waiting, and the fact is, there’s never been a better time.
Picking yourself is not limited to publishing books, because with the internet you’re creations, whatever they are, can reach more people than at any other time in history and without anyone giving you the go ahead.
There are no more gatekeepers.
It’s just you and the world. And that’s pretty awesome.
Are you ready to be it? Share in the comments.
